1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments generally relate to an illuminating device and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, military units, law enforcement agencies, civil services, and civilians use chemical snap lights to provide illumination, identify themselves or injured personnel, hazardous areas, and other objects or places of interest. These chemical snap lights are waterproof and have an activated life span of approximately 8-12 hours, depending on the color and intensity of the lights. After being activated, these lights only stay lit for their approximate chemical burn time and then have no purpose and must be disposed of.
A majority of times these lights are only needed for a couple of hours or less, so the ability to turn these lights off and then reuse them would be of great benefit to the end user, decreasing the impact on the environment and providing greater cost savings over time. A benefit would include having the ability to use one light for different situations instead of having to bring multiple chemical snap lights that can only be used once.
Chemical snap lights have been used during night freefall operations to mark individual jumpers and equipment. At high altitudes, the chemical snap lights may become deactivated due to extreme low temperatures. When attached to the parachutist, the chemical snap lights become a snag hazard which may result in parachute malfunction during canopy deployment.
During night parachute operations, parachutists are required to have a visual marking device on the back of their helmet. Therefore, because the current snap lights possess only lights to indicate that they are activated which require visual inspection, it is difficult during the “jump” for the parachutist to determine if his or her marking device is activated or not.
As discussed above, current snap lights do not permit deactivation and subsequent reactivation of the lights. Current snap lights do not possess ergonomic, versatile designs and thus do not allow their facile transfer between equipment and increase the chance of their becoming snag hazards.
There is therefore a need for an illuminating device which allows deactivation and subsequent re-activation of the illuminating device.
There is also a need for an illuminating device which possesses an ergonomic, versatile design which allows for easy transfer between equipment and prevents its becoming a snag hazard.
There is yet a further need for an illuminating device which permits the user to discern whether the illuminating device is activated without requiring visual inspection of the device.